February 11, 2005
New Perspectives on Leonardo - Horizons for Digital Possibilities
In the last year there has been a wealth of interesting publications with regards to Leonardo Da Vinci. What is so interesting about some of these newer texts is that focus has shifted from the paintings to more renaissance perspectives covering the notebooks, design, mathematics and visual/scientific investigations of Da Vinci. This entry briefly glances at some of these newer texts abstracting some of this material in the hopes of creating awareness of renaissance modalities with regards to our own projects and information systems, digital libraries and possibilities for visualization and multimedia.
Perhaps the most baroque of these texts is the new Taschen catalogue raissonnée. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519: the complete paintings and drawings/Frank Zollner. Koln: Los Angeles, Taschen, 2003. Physically, the book is enormous, the full color reproductions beautiful and precise with the most advanced digital reproduction methods possible. What is most amazing about this text and revealing are the notebooks and drawings. The notebooks open Leonardo as a designer, scientist, draughtsman and inventor. The visualizations and range of Leonardo's scientific work is remarkable. It gives one pause as to the 'aesthetics' necessary in creating whether this be 'digital libraries', 'information systems' or any of Leonardos flights of fancy. The books division and liner notes are worth noting:
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) possessed one of the greatest minds of all time; his importance and influence are inestimable. This XXL-format comprehensive survey is the most complete book ever made on the subject of this Italian painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, scientist and all-around genius. With huge, full-bleed details of Leonardo's masterworks, this highly original publication allows the reader to inspect the subtlest facets of his brushstrokes.
Part I explores Leonardo's life and work drawing upon his letters, contracts, diary entries, and writings. All of his paintings are presented and interpreted in depth and fold-out pages.
Part II comprises a catalogue raisonne of Leonardo's paintings, which covers all of his surviving and lost painted works. Each and every painting that can be justifiably attributed to Leonardo is included.
Part III contains an extensive catalogue of his drawings arranged by category (architecture, technical, anatomical, figures, proportion, cartography, etc).
On another level and opening up another important aspect of Leonardo is Bulent Atalay's "Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo. Written by a retired physics professor, Math and the Mona Lisa looks at the unity of art and science in various aspects of Leonardos life and work. Atalay looks at science and art in art in Leonardo —painting, architecture, sculpture, music, mathematics, physics, biology, astronomy, and engineering—and the unity of the cultures. Take note here again for our own current digital concerns. Atalay delves into the underlying mathematics and aesthetics of science and art, paying special attention to the Fibonacci series and golden ratio. Interestingly, Ataley marvels at the symmetries to be found in art and the natural world, discussing the Fibonacci series (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8...) and the golden ratio related to it designated by the Greek letter phi (1.618...). Again, there is a lot here and this is not an easy text but worth noting.
Finally, more easily accesible as a general overview is Martin Kemp's Oxford University Press Leonardo. Admittedly, this is a reissue but Kemp who is also the author of Visualizations: The Nature Book of Art and Science is also very good on more 'renaissance' and holistic perspectives of Leonardo. Also worth mentioning again, especially with this group is Ben Shneiderman's Leonardo on the Laptop which ideally should be read in tandem with the above aforesaid mentioned texts. Digital library designers, information systems architects and current information design theorists take note, expand horizons - a lot of lessons may be learned here.